This is better than a whole lot of the programs out there that actually cost something. ConvertXtoDVD would be great if its encoding didn't suck so bad.

note: Version 1.7 has a bug where it always converts AC3 audio and won't let it pass through if you want it to pass through, so use 1.6 instead if it's 5.1 audio. But 1.7 can input vob files. Wish that audio problem would get fixed. It'd be near-perfect then.

That's for DVD creation. The built-in menu maker is a free program, simple to use, and thus very basic. If you want more than your choice of picture behind the names of the files for the menu, you'll have to look elsewhere for that.

I also like TMPG Author for menus. It's simple to use, and you can use your choice of 15-second part of the file as the preview in the menu. There are still things that can make prettier menus, but having six windows on the screen all looping their own 15-second preview of the file is good enough for me. It can be picky if you want to mix PAL and NTSC onto the same disc or things like that, but most people probably won't run into that problem.

There are other good menu programs, but I'm not a big menu guy, so I keep it quick and easy.